Fish Report

Well, unless something strange really happens we should have tracking snow in some areas for the opening of the firearm deer season. It will be interesting because it has been a while since we had a real cold deer season. Personally I would like a happy medium where we have snow for seeing the deer better and tracking them, but still is warm enough so you can sit and not freeze. But then again old age may just have something to do with it.

Speaking of deer season, when I was teaching hunter safety more than 25 years ago I used to always say we needed more women involved in hunting. Back then it seemed with each year there were more and more girls taking the class. I always felt that if more women got involved in hunting and were passionate about their involvement it would make a big difference when hunters had to defend their sport in this day and age.

So I found what I heard this week rather interesting. National Geographic, CBS Minnesota, and NPR added to this article

This year’s hunting season brings evidence of a steady trend over recent years: More female hunters are out in the woods toting shotguns. National Geographic takes note of Census Bureau stats that show women now make up 11 percent of the nation’s 13.7 million hunters, up from nine percent in 2006. What’s going on? The story hits on a slew of factors, including the increased popularity of the sustainable and localfood movements and their focus on paying attention to where the food on our plates comes from. “Hunting may be the next frontier for local food,” says author Lily Raff Mc- Caulou. “I was pretty detached from what I ate before I started hunting.” (And vegetarians take note: She also eats less meat now, she says.)

Retailers have, of course, noticed the spike in female hunters—and perhaps contributed to it, by marketing smaller firearms and gear tailored for women, reports CBS Minnesota. That state mirrors the national trend, with the number of hunting licenses granted to women up from 50,000 in 2,000 to 72,000 last year. Minnesota and other states also are conducting outdoorsy howto’s specifically for women. In fact, “women tend to be actually better hunters because they tend to be a bit more patient, and oftentimes are a much better shot, because they tend to be a bit more focused,” one hunter– a male one–tells NPR.

So this has to be a move in the right direction for the hunting fraternity.

Well, a lot of us that personally knew Buck LeVasseur were really not surprised when we heard he was now officially leaving his Discovering program on TV 6. But it still is not the same without having Buck after 30 years of being part of Discovering.

Discovering has been such a part of the U.P. all these years that when it came on most of the U.P. closed down during that period to watch it. Of course, this was before you had all these gadgets where you can miss something and watch it anytime you want.

I personally got to know Buck when my first book came out and he was kind enough to do a piece and put it on his show. Needless to say this got things off and running all across the U.P. Each time a new book came out Buck would get ahold of me to let people know another “Tales from a Game Warden” book was out.

We became friends through the years and I always marveled at how he could take videos of this, that, and some pictures and put them all together and come out with his program for the week.

The new host of Discovering will be Brian Whitens who has been filling in and doing a great job. So Discovering will continue to be a U.P. stable each week.

As you get ready to head out in the woods for the firearm deer season, make sure to double check everything so you have a safe deer season. If you travel by boat, remember all the normal boating safety rules apply. Make sure guns are unloaded when in camp and when getting in and out of the stand. Let’s all be safe and enjoy the time together with family and friends.